(Vrtojba, 4.10.1914 - Šempeter pri Gorici, 17.6.1993)
Rafael Nemec was a Slovenian academic artist who contributed to the cultural development of Nova Gorica with his work. After finishing primary school, he got a job as a room painter. In his free time, he liked to draw, and he also attended evening painting classes in Gorizia.
He continued his education in art in Venice. In 1939, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts. During World War II, he was deported to Sardinia and Corsica. Only after the end of the war was he able to return to Venice and successfully complete his education. At that time, he was also active in contemporary political events. He advocated for the annexation of Primorska to Yugoslavia. He prepared numerous advertising leaflets and banners for the movement's propaganda, with the help of which they raised public awareness. He was a versatile artist. He was active in both the field of theater and fine arts. He occasionally made sketches for set designs, and he also worked on designing monuments to those who fell in the war.
He spent most of his life teaching art at Slovenian secondary schools. He also served as a conservator at the Institute for the Protection of Monuments in Ljubljana and Nova Gorica and was one of the first Slovenians to work on frescoes in Hrastovlje. In his free time, he also worked on restoration. He painted mostly with oil paints and watercolors. Throughout his entire artistic career, the German's artistic expression changed several times. Stylistically, he remained torn between realism and modernism, but in his images he tried to achieve narrative above all. He most often painted landscapes, seascapes, family portraits and self-portraits. In the initial phase of his work, he followed the academic tradition, which he replaced with color and socialist realism in the post-war period.
From the 1950s onwards, he was more focused on expressionism, and in the 1960s he explored the relationship between man and nature. In these works of art, he relied on surrealism, which gradually turned into abstract surrealism. At the end of the 1970s, he was primarily interested in the existential hardship of modern man. Rafael Nemec founded a painting school during his life. In 1964, he was granted the status of a free artist. He participated in several solo and group exhibitions, at which he was awarded several awards. One of the most important was the Bevko Award in 1975. At that time, his major exhibition was held at Kromberg Castle.
Rafael Nemec je bil slovenski akademski umetnik, ki je s svojim delovanjem pripomogel h kulturnemu razvoju Nove Gorice. Po končani osnovni šoli se je zaposlil kot soboslikar. V prostem času je rad risal, obiskoval pa je tudi večerni tečaj slikanja, v Gorici.
Izobraževanje v umetnostni smeri je nadaljeval v Benetkah. Leta 1939 se je vpisal na slikarsko akademijo lepih umetnosti. Med 2. svetovno vojno so ga deportirali na Sardinijo in Korziko. Šele po koncu vojne se je lahko vrnil v Benetke in uspešno končal izobraževanje. Tedaj je bil aktiven tudi v sočasnem političnem dogajanju. Zavzemal se je, da bi Primorsko priključili Jugoslaviji. Za propagando gibanja je pripravil številne reklamne letake in transparente, s pomočjo katerih so ozaveščali javnost. Bil je vsestransko podkovani umetnik. Aktiven je bil tako na področju gledališča kot tudi likovne umetnosti. Občasno je izdelal skice za scenografije, ukvarjal pa se je tudi z oblikovanjem spomenikov padlim v vojni.
Večino svojega življenja je poučeval likovni pouk na slovenskih srednjih šolah. Služboval je tudi kot konservator na Zavodu za varstvo spomenikov v Ljubljani in Novi Gorici in je bil eden izmed prvih Slovencev, ki so se ukvarjali s freskami v Hrastovljah. V prostem času se je ukvarjal tudi z restavriranjem. Večinoma je slikal z oljnimi barvami in v akvarelu. Skozi celotno umetnostno kariero se je likovni izraz Nemca kar nekajkrat spremenil. Slogovno je ostal razpet med realizmom in modernizmom, v podobah pa je skušal doseči predvsem narativnost. Najbolj pogosto je slikal krajine, marine, portrete družin in avtoportrete. V začetni fazi ustvarjanja je sledil akademski tradiciji, ki jo je v povojnem obdobju nadomestil z barvnim in socialističnim realizmom.
Od 50ih let dalje je bil bolj osredotočen na ekspresionizem, v 60ih pa je raziskoval odnos med človekom in naravo. V teh likovnih delih se je oprl na nadrealizem, ki je postopoma prešel v abstraktni surrealizem. Konec 70ih letih ga je zanimala predvsem bivanjska stiska sodobnega človeka. Rafael Nemec je tekom življenja zasnoval slikarsko šolo. Leta 1964 so mu podelili status svobodnega umetnika. Udeležil se je več samostojnih in skupinskih razstav, na katerih so mu podelili več nagrad. Eno najpomembnejših je prejel leta 1975 in sicer Bevkovo priznanje. Takrat je potekala njegova velika razstava na gradu Kromberg.
The text was prepared for the Porta Alpina gallery by Pia Župevec, B.Sc. art history
Besedilo je za galerijo Porta Alpina pripravila Pia Župevec, dipl. um. zgod.
SOURCES/VIRI:
Klavdija FIGELJ, Sedem dni za Rafaela Nemca: 90. obletnica rojstva akademskega slikarja Rafaela Nemca, Primorske novice, 2005, p. 23.
Klavdija FIGELJ, Iz realizma tudi v fantastiko: spomini na akademskega slikarja Rafaela Nemca, Primorske novice, 2005, p. 15.
Polonca KAVČIČ, s. v. Nemec Rafael (1914-1993), Obrazi slovenskih pokrajin, Kranj 2020, https://www.obrazislovenskihpokrajin.si/oseba/nemec-rafael/ (11.1.2025).
Nika VAUPOTIČ, Rafael Nemec, 13.11.2019, https://www.novagoricaart.si/osebnost/rafael-nemec/ (23.1.2025).
For all additional information regarding the purchase and other services, you can contact us by phone or e-mail: info@portaalpina-gallery.com
We will try to answer you as soon as possible.